Ulrich Zwingli was born on New Year’s Day, 1484 in Wildhaus, Switzerland. Although not as well-known as some other Reformers of his day, like Calvin and Luther, he nonetheless began a large Reformation movement that resulted in the demise of Catholicism in Switzerland.

Zwingli’s beliefs were simple and straightforward: the Bible is truth; anything not in the Bible is not truth. It was the simplicity of this message that garnered him great public support from his people in Switzerland; and eventually outrage, and even war, from Roman officials.

Click here to read a brief timeline of Zwingli's life

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Zwingli's Early Years

Zwingli was the third of eight boys and two girls born to the successful district official, Ulrich Zwingli, of the town of Wildhaus. Zwingli’s uncle, Bartholomew, was pastor of Wildhaus until 1487 and subsequently became pastor and dean of Wesen on the Walensee. It was there that the younger Ulrich received his early education under his uncle’s guidance. He was sent, at the age of ten, to Gregory Bunzli of Wesen who was studying at Basel and teaching in the school of St. Theodore. Back to top

Zwingli’s Higher Education

Zwingli was educated at the University of Vienna, Berne and the University of Basel. He studied under some of the greatest Humanists of Switzerland. He was highly educated in the classical studies of poetry, philosophy, music, astronomy, physics and the ancient classics, acquiring his B.A. degree in 1504 and Master of Arts in 1506 at the University of Basel. It was, amazingly, amongst his total emersion in humanism at university, that Zwingli met men who would plant seeds of reformation in his mind. Back to top

His Early Ministry
In 1506 he was ordained into the priesthood in Glarus, where he began studying Erasmus—even going so far, it is said, to invite him for a visit (the invitation was declined). However, Erasmus’ writings were part of what is to be credited with Zwingli’s attention beginning to turn toward the reformation.
In 1515, he moved to Einsiedeln, where he saw, up close, the evil inherent in certain practices from Rome such as the buying of indulgences. (Zwingli began preaching against and condemning them, several years before Luther, himself, did so.) He also strongly opposed the mercenary service, a practice that seemed especially to make the Roman church rich while killing young Swiss and leading others to a life of moral decay in the face of constant battle. Zwingli’s reform teachings became quite popular and on January 1, 1519, he was appointed priest at Grossmünster in Zürich. Back to top

Zwingli Gets Serious

Although the seeds of reform had already been planted and Zwingli was already preaching the beginnings of a reform platform, he had not yet given himself fully and completely to the Lord. For up to this time, he had some indiscretions in his behavior that he had not fully turned away from. But when the 1520 plague struck Zurich and destroyed nearly a third of its inhabitants, including Zwingli himself who had been faithfully ministering to the needs of his people, it appears as though he emerged from his near death experience a changed man. Back to top

Zwingli Takes a Stand

After he fully recovered from the plague, Zwingli began earnestly fighting for strict obedience to the literal teachings of scripture. In Switzerland, reform was brought about by appeal to the magistrate of the city who called for a debate between Roman Catholic theologians and reformers. He who defended his position most effectively and almost always it was the reformers—who based their arguments solely on scripture, was awarded the right to make, or not make, the disputed reform. Zwingli won his first of many successful debates in 1523. Some of the changes brought about by his debates were: Lent was abandoned, clerical celibacy was declared unbiblical, churches were severed from the papacy, the mass was replaced…just a few among many changes that Zwingli and others in Switzerland brought about. Back to top

Zwingli and Luther

Unfortunately, during this time of great victory for Zwingli and the Swiss reformers, a dispute with Luther and his German contemporaries curtailed any attempt at unifying the parties. The parties managed to agree on 15 points of essential reform doctrine. There was only one point of dispute between the camps. The dispute revolved around the understanding of the Lord’s Supper. The Swiss did not agree with Luther’s doctrine of consubstantiation; they viewed the act of honoring the Lord’s Supper as a more symbolic act, not a literal changing of the substance of the elements. Some sources say that Luther harshly disagreed with the Swiss and called a halt to further fellowship, amid Zwingli’s great disappointment and attempt to unify the two camps in spite of this one doctrinal difference. Back to top

Zwingli’s Marriage and Children

Another controversy surrounding Zwingli’s life is his marriage to Anna Reinhard. Reportedly, Zwingli married Reinhard, a widow of high standing in the community, in a secret marriage in 1522. Zwingli kept his marriage a secret from all but his closest friends until he married her publicly on April 2, 1524. Some have theorized that this was because priests were forbidden from marrying in his day and he was afraid of backlash from doing so. Others have not been quite so kind and even accuse him of living with her in an unmarried state from 1522-1524 in what was called a “clerical marriage.” Regardless of the particulars, theirs was seen as a good marriage which resulted in the birth of four children, adding to the three she brought into the marriage. Their names were Regula Zwingli, born July 13,1524; Wilhelm Zwingli, born January 29, 1526; Huldreich Zwingli, born Jan. 6, 1528 and Anna Zwingli, born May 4, 1530. Back to top

Zwingli’s Opposition & Death
Although hugely popular with the Swiss, the officials in Rome had great animosity toward Zwingli and the Protestant movement in Switzerland. In 1529, they began a wide campaign to end Protestantism in Switzerland. Their efforts began with an attempt to instill a false sense of security by suing the Swiss for “peace.” What in fact the Roman Catholic Church did was to buy themselves time to strengthen their troops for battle against the Swiss, as Zwingli suspected and warned against all along.
In 1531, the Roman Catholic Church declared war against the Protestant Swiss in a sudden surprise attack. Zwingli joined the Swiss troops as chaplain. The Swiss lost decisively and Zwingli was killed at the battle of Kappel, his body defiled, on October 11, 1531. Back to top

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Time Line of Zwingli's Life